Thin Sliced Steak – Yakiniku Style (Japanese Barbecue)

Eating out with my family make up a huge chunk of my childhood memory. Growing up, Japanese cuisine was big in Indonesia and was one of my family’s favorites. And as far as I could remember the cuisine had a lot more varieties than just the very popular sushi and bento boxes that we have been so accustomed to here these days. My favorite was Yakiniku.

In college, a friend of mine taught me how to make yakiniku at home. (Thanks again for it, Vick!) Each time I make it I am reminded of why I like the dish so much. Aside from the good memories it brings, this easy and savory meat dish is just so full of flavors! The sesame oil gives this warm and nutty aroma while the mixture of soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and cayenne pepper infuses the meat with such an exciting taste.

I like to cook my thin sliced steak on the grill outside. The meat tends to get very smoky when it is done inside, on a gridiron or on a portable gas stove at the table, just like how it is at yakiniku restaurants.

Here’s my super easy version of yakiniku.

Ingredients for the steak:

1 1/2 pounds of thin sliced beef

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

¼ cup of low sodium soy sauce

¼ cup of sesame oil

1 teaspoon of ginger powder

1 tablespoon of cayenne/chili powder

Ingredients for the sides (any of these will work fine):

Asparagus

Cucumber (peeled and sliced)

Lettuce

Steps:

Mix all of the ingredients for the steak in a resealable bag (or a bowl and then cover with a plastic wrap) and let it sit in the fridge overnight

Grill the meat over high heat. It won’t take long at all to cook since the beef are sliced very thin. So please don’t wander off too far from the grill